P-MAN III - 8             

Ngatpang/Execution/POWs (continued)

2.  Summary Report, 13-15 November, 2001 by Dr. Patrick J. Scannon, BentProp Project

Summary Report
The U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii
Preliminary Search Efforts in Ngatpang State
Republic of Palau
November 14-15, 2001

The U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) dispatched a 4-person team to the Republic of Palau in response to additional information gathered by Professor Donald R. Shuster as a result of his trip to Palau in October 2001. In particular, the recollections of Mrs. Katalina Katosang appeared quite consistent with existent War Crimes testimony, which CILHI felt merited further site exploration. CILHI met up with Dr. Patrick Scannon and his team in Palau.

The CILHI team consisted of:

•  Major Jessie Massey, Team Leader
•  William Belcher, PhD, Archeologist/Anthropologist
•  M. Emerson Wiles, WWII Historical Analyst
•  Cheryl Udui, Culture Specialist

Prior to the initiation of this mission, Dr. Scannon, along with Ms. Jennifer Krasny-Powers, of Post Star Productions, went to the office of Ngatpang State on November 13 and met with Mr. Gilbert Demei, as well as the Ngatpang Delegate, the Ngatpang Governor and several Ngatpang Chiefs, including Mr. Shallum Etpison. The purpose of the meeting was to update the Ngatpang members about the P-MAN II expedition last year to Lt. General Inoue's jungle headquarters and to ask permission for further exploration on Ngatpang. Dr. Scannon then

1. Described the findings from the visit to General Inoue's headquarters during P-MAN II;
2. Made a request to return to the Gaspan Hill with a new US Army CILHI search team to further investigate with Mrs. Katosang the general area around the proposed execution site (as a result of Professor Shuster's inquiries in Palau from the previous month); and
3. Made a brief presentation concerning Post Star Production's interest in possibly filming a documentary, based on Dr. Scannon's multi-year research concerning missing airmen. At the end of that meeting, the Ngatpang officials gave permission for the CILHI search team, the Post Star video crew and Dr. Scannon to visit Gaspan Hill and continue Dr. Shuster's search for the executed prisoners' burial site.

On the morning of November 15, everyone embarked via 4WD trucks and picked up Mrs. Lorenza Pedro, Mrs. Katalina Katosang and Mr. Henaro Antonio, who acted as guide. With the full search team on board, the trucks traveled to Gaspan Hill and stopped the vehicles on top of the hill. Katalina Katosang immediately began searching for the site and, as described below by Mr. Wiles in his report (the following section on this Web site), she found an area on which she is certain she saw two white wooden crosses and a Japanese grave post after the war. This area was on top of the hill rather than further up the road toward the jungle area searched last year. She recalled and located the general area of a small wooden house on the hill and close scrutiny revealed glass bottle shards but no obvious remains of a house. The team ultimately found one flattened area approximately 10 by 20 feet down the hill from our parked vehicles that corresponded to the execution site on the map drawn by Sgt. Ichimiya for his trial after the war. The CILHI historical analyst, Mr. Wiles, believes this site, for which we have GPS coordinates, may be the original burial site from which the executed civilian and military prisoners were exhumed at the end of the war for subsequent cremation and re-burial nearby.

No further surface evidence concerning these executed prisoners and their final burial site was found in this area. Dr. Scannon asked permission to have a ceremony with an American flag he brought in memory of the executed POW's and the team gathered together to mark the occasion. The flag will be presented by Dr. Scannon to the 307th Bombardment Group (Heavy) Reunion Group, which continues to remember these still missing airmen who were from that unit. It was felt that should additional research uncover new findings concerning this site, further exploration of the site to locate the final burial site of cremated remains will be considered.

Patrick J. Scannon, MD, PhD
Bent Prop Project
San Francisco, CA
18 December 2001

You can view the other sections of this report by clicking the navigation arrows at the top or bottom of the page, or click the following links to view specific other sections of the report:

1. Summary Report, 4-16 October 2000, by Professor Donald R. Shuster, University of Guam
2. Summary Report, 13-15 November 2001, By Dr. Patrick J. Scannon, Bent Prop Project (see above)
3. Preliminary report concerning Palau Execution and Burial Sites, by Mr. M. Emerson Wiles, CILHI
4. Interim Overall Summary and Conclusions

Page last modified 23 April 2005